A user, using a web browser, can access web-based systems that can retrieve, present, and traverse information resources on the World Wide Web. The web-based systems can include multiple components working together to provide the user with the information requested. For example, Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) can be used as a platform for building a multi-tier web-based system. J2EE applications can service Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) requests through a network of queues.
The performance of a web-based system can refer to how quickly the system services HTTP requests. The user experience is based on how quickly a request made through a web browser to a web site is serviced. For example, performance can become critical when a web site needs to process a large volume of requests at a given point in time, creating a performance bottleneck.
During web-based system development, performance tuning can identify and eliminate performance bottlenecks. Performance testers can include tools that can put the web-based systems under load while testing the system's performance by measuring identified performance indicators.